337 



Local conditions and the distance the material is to be transported 

 must be weighed on the basis of economics. This is a thoroughly inte- 

 grated decision having a strong bearing on the overall cost of the 

 project. We believe this function should remain with the U.S. Army 

 Corps of Engineers as it has historically. The environmental safe- 

 guards are built into the corps procedure, including a requirement for 

 local approval, and we see no useful purpose in retaining "dredged 

 spoil" under the definition of "material" in this proposed legislation. 



Procedures are adequately and effectively regiilated now from the 

 standpoint of the environment and of marine transportation. We 

 further respectfully suggest that this distinguished committee look 

 with gTeat care at tlie growth of world dependence on merchant ship- 

 ping, as it views this legislation. 



It has been estimated that back in the year 1900, comparing total 

 world population with total tonnage of merchant shipping, there were 

 approximately 200 pounds of shipping for each person. Today that 

 figiire has grown to 600 pounds for each individual, reflecting a three- 

 fold dependence, and this continues to grow. World population, mean- 

 while, is growing also. The world fleet could reach a billion gross tons 

 of shipping by the year 2000. 



Reflecting the demands of world shipping on our Nation's harbors, 

 total local public investment in marine terminals had reached $861 

 million by 1941 and adding the previously cited investments post- 

 World War II, amounts to almost $4 billion today. 

 ' This nationwide harbor development has been done in partnership 

 with a Federal investment in ports, mainly in the form of deepwater 

 channels, the U.S. Anny Corps of Engineers being responsible for 

 the Nation's na^dgable waterways. 



So that we may visualize this partnership, the Federal investment 

 in channels since 1824 totals almost 1.5 billion including maintenance. 

 Comparing this to the historic local public investment in marine termi- 

 nals means that competing local port authorities have invested more 

 than $2 for every Federal dollar. 



The resulting plant, a product of the forces of competition, is con- 

 sidered to be the finest port system in the world. We estimate that our 

 current seaport waterfronts occupy 1,650 miles in the aggregate, or 

 2 percent of the national shoreline Avhich. measured point to point on 

 a 100-foot unit basis, totals 93,653 miles. This may have to be increased 

 to as much as about 5 percent over the next three decades, to meet 

 the demands of world interchange of goods. This leaves 55 percent of 

 the shoreline as the national playground or for perpetuation of the 

 ecocycle, or for other healthful uses. We suggest to the committee, and 

 the Congress, that the above ratio offers a certain sense of balance and 

 proportion in the area of dredge spoil disposal as in many other areas 

 requiring balanced considerations. 



This entire port structure has been developed, of course, with the 

 movement and redeposit of countless tons of dredged spoil. We ought 

 now to take a look at the material itself. 



Mud, clay, rock, and sand are reportedly not major, lasting or wide- 

 spread "pollutants", even under the most severe definition of that 

 flexible word, when stirred up by dredging activities. Only when man 

 has added a coating of his own ingredients do they become carriers of 

 pollutants. For that type of dredged spoil, at issue is one long-standing 



